Recommended items for playing with the Command artifact

This list is a guide for playing with the Command artifact, to maximize both the items you acquire and the damage you deal. It’s still a good guide for playing with totally random items, but It’s really more of a checklist in that case. I play with the Glass artifact a lot- only one minor change has to be made for that case, which I noted.
In the cases where items are useful, I ordered them by my own personal prioritization. In several cases where I only grab one of an item, I grab it first to get it out of the way, unless something else is more immediately useful.
I colored the items by their rarity. Boss items in command mode are unique, because they don't come in a box- they actually drop.


These items are the most important- get as many as you can!
Crowbar
Paul’s Goat Hoof
Mysterious Vial
Tough Times
Soldier’s Syringe (This one depends on character- it’s pretty useless for Sniper so I’ve heard)

These items have a known cap on their usefulness (or I chose a soft limit), so only get a certain amount of them. I gave my reasoning for the limits, or said it was an optional one.
56 Leaf Clover: Get 8x (limited according to wiki)
Infusion: Get 5x, more if you’re playing with the Glass artifact
Lens Maker’s Glasses: Get 10x (10%*10=100%)
Hermit’s Scarf: Get 4x (limited according to wiki)
Bustling Fungus: Get 22x (4.5%*22=99%, good for Temple of Elders farming)
Thallium: Get 1x (limited according to wiki)
The Hit List: Get 1x, more if you’re impatient
Golden Gun: Get 1x (more does not increase damage)
Ancient Scepter: Get 1x, more is optional
Shattering Justice: Get 1x, more is optional
Photon Jetpack: Get 1x, more is optional
Rusty Jetpack: Get a lot. Jumping really high is very useful.
Heaven Cracker: Get 4x (every 4th, every 3rd, every 2nd, every hit)
Wicked Ring: Get as many as the highest cooldown you have
Alien Head: Wicked ring is more effective, but I recommend 3x
Predatory Instincts: Get 20x (5%*20=100%)
Harvester’s Scythe: Get 20x (5%*20=100%)
Telescopic Sight: Get 5x (limited according to wiki)
Beating Embryo: Get 4x (30%*4=120%)
Rapid Mitosis: Get 4x (limited according to wiki)
Smart Shopper: Get 3x, (powers the Golden Gun quickly and opens chests)

These items aren’t required, but aren’t harmful either. You decide whether or not to get them.
Meat Nugget
Warbanner
Monster Tooth
Bitter Root
Sprouting Egg
Snake Eyes
Spikestrip
Life Savings
Medkit
Energy Cell
Boxing Gloves
Leeching Seed
Concussion Grenade
Prison Shackles
Guardian’s Heart
Time Keeper’s Secret
Filial Imprinting
The Ol’ Lopper
Permafrost
White Undershirt (M)
Colossal Knurl

These items deal automatic or indirect damage that would negate the usefulness of Crowbars. Do not get any of them.
ALL TURRETS except healing ones UNLESS YOU HAVE THE ARMS RACE
Gasoline
Barbed Wire
Mortar Tube
Rusty Knife
Sticky Bomb
Fire Shield
Dead Man’s Foot
Arms Race
AtG Missile Mk. 1
Chargefield Generator
Toxic Worm
Ukulele
Will-o’-the-wisp
Panic Mines
Hyper Threader
Headstompers
Fireman’s Boots
AtG Missile Mk. 2
Brilliant Behemoth
Tesla Coil
Repulsion Armor
Old Box
Plasma Chain
Imp Overlord’s Tentacle
Burning Witness
Ifrit’s Horn
Legendary Spark

These items have special instructions
Ceremonial Dagger: Get 1x ASAP if you want some security early game, otherwise do not get
Happiest Mask: Get 1x ASAP if you want some security early game, otherwise do not get
Dio’s Best Friend: Get 1x, but don’t get more until used

Let me know if it's a bit difficult to read with [THINLINES]

 

I don't think you realize exactly how Harvester's Scythe stacks. Stacking Golden Gun reduces the amount of gold needed to reach max damage gained, but I agree with not needing to prioritize it.

UNLESS I'm playing Sniper, I'd much rather take items that deal damage over stacking crowbars, but I do see where you're coming from, as crowbars would be extremely effective in Glass. There are items, like Barbed Wire and Toxic Centipede, that deal a fixed amount of damage based on your own, so having a pseudo-Chargefield made of Barbed Wire can give you a ranged alternative to having to stack crowbars. This would also allow you to opt for other items, such as Gasoline/Will-o-Wisp/etc. The Glass Artifact calls for an extremely tanky build in my opinion. I always choose to stack First Aid Kits with an Infusion to sponge hits easily.

Honestly, I think writing builds that favor different classes would be much more productive as they'll show which items to prioritize according to their varying playstyles.

 

Soldier's syringe is actually very effective on sniper, because it makes his steady aim charge faster. Fifteen of them or so and your steady aim is almost instantaneous.

 

I prefer Missiles/Syringe whenever possible, because it is hilarious to see all those missiles everywhere.
Get Infusion ASAP, especially on Glass mode.
Can you actually get the boss-specific items in Command mode (it's never come up), and why did you even list the Undershirt? It's not a choose-able item (and doesn't do anything AFAIK).

 

Going for wicked ring + crit items is always great. Spamming laser glaive, FMJ, Harpoons or Acrids spit is amazing. If you get that and missiles you're already getting near invincible. Just some jump and infusion and you're done.

PS. Darn those elites on glass runs... especially wisps...

 

You can get boss items, but they don't come in a box. They just drop. A lot of them are detrimental to the Crowbar effect. Also, I really don't know why I listed the shirt, but according to the wiki it gives 3 armor.

Missiles are pretty funny, but I was prioritizing the build for maximizing damage output of most classes. I find it works for most of the classes, those being the ones I tested, all but sniper and miner.

 

I just want to point out that things can get really hilarious with enough Soldier's Syringes
Plus, getting many of them makes HAN-D almost invincible, so that's something

 

Try Paul's Goat Hooves

 

Hmm, Goat Hooves + Spirit artifact is suddenly reminding me of that old bug where movement speed would wrap back around to zero. Hope that doesn't happen again.

 

The problem with this is that the items you want depends on your character and artifacts. There are 10230 different combinations of characters and artifacts that involve command, and each of those is going to require different items (although many of them will probably require similar items.)

 

Yeah, that was the purpose in making the list- a guide that fits most every character as best as possible.
The goal of it was to maximize damage potential, via crowbars, which I probably should have mentioned earlier on. I'll make an edit, but later.

 

Oh, OK. Well, if you are trying to maximize damage, you probably shouldn't recommend 22 bustling fungi.

 

Look at the note on the side
They're for farming the health shrines in the temple of elders, to make as many items as possible drop too

 

Yeah, but then you get maybe 12 items at that level for 22 junk items, and without those junk items you could still get like 6 on average. You would have to loop like four times for it to be worth it.

 

It's okay guide for one specific build, except it describes you in god mode, but not how to get there, namely:
Which items are recommended to get early and why?
4 "most" important items are in one tier, what's the recommended balance between them?
What's your use item?
How do you handle crowds? This build does not seem to have any AOE.
If you want to maximize item farming, where's Captain's Brooch? Goes well with Rapid Mitosis.
At least one Guardian’s Heart should be on the "must have" list, since it can fully absorb one hit, no matter how strong.
Why do you have thallium on "take one" list, while mom's knife is on "never take"? They both do damage over time.
And why old box is on "they do damage list"?

 

I think you could get more DPS by going for a lot of the never take items instead of just crowbars.

 

I guess I should've put more thought into it before posting.
Most of the items you questioned are probably in the wrong spot because I misread their descriptions
I'll rework this awful mess, then

 

I think it would be better if you tried to make a guide for a specific character with just command on.

 

I agree with this. Each character functions and benefits from items differently. As such, a list of 'recommended items' should be made for each individual character. If you are going to include other artifacts during play, I would think those would require their own lists as well. For the command/glass artifacts, I would recommend tons of barbed wire early on, as well as at least 1 infusion and guardian heart to increase survivability. For more damage output, add a single chargefield with the barbed wire, eventually things will die in one to a few hits before the field ends. Adding kin and sacrifice to the mix? Restart the game until you end up with jellyfish or greater wisps, then proceed to cheese them for items/achievements. Every list will be different depending on what artifacts and characters are chosen, a universal list will not work too great for this.

EDIT: I should also add, don't believe what is on the wiki. Almost everything is incorrect on it, including item caps. Get 8 rapid mitosis and a shield generator and you are immortal.

 

Just only take barbed wires, chargefield generators and ceremonial daggers. Kill one thing, kill everything.